Apologies for a long post. We are new beardie owners. We purchased 4-month-old Kronk in early Feb. from a reputable breeder. We had done months of research, but still relied on the breeder to advise us on habitat setup. Kronk never ate greens except for a daily blueberry that I found he loved. But he had a solid appetite for crickets and dubias when we switched to those. He seemed to thrive just fine until late April (3 months of our care). In May he started to become a finicky eater but still ate some bugs. We tried superworms to shake things up and he enjoyed those, but by mid-June, he completely stopped eating. After a week of that, we took him to the ER vet (with some reptile experience). They said he was underweight and suggested a fecal, which resulted in a coccidia diagnosis. After 2 rounds of Ponazuril, we had a clean fecal but still no appetite. We then took him to a reptile specialist in early-July. Xray was taken to rule out blockage. Some digested substrate was evident but vet did not think he was blocked. She told us to avoid calci-sand as his substrate (breeder recommended!) so we removed that. She also tested him for ADV, which she strongly suspected. That came back negative. She did follow-up bloodwork to rule out stomach cancer, liver or kidney failure. All was good except high white blood cell count. She suspected a massive bacterial infection. Kronk went on 5 weeks of Enrofloxacin to combat this unknown bacteria. We started force feeding him Emeriaid Omnivore, which helped him put some weight on. We stopped the meds on 8/25. Still not eating on his own.
So we took a trip back to the breeder (mostly because they had a replacement warranty on our vapor bulb, which died on us after 5 months). We told the breeder what had been happening. He's not a fan of vets and said this was all likely because we were not keeping him hot enough. He suggested trying to keep even the cold side around 85-90 F degrees. Also suggested removing his cave, as he said he's probably trying to die and hiding allows that to happen. We took out his cave, added an additional UVB Repti-Sun T8 directly inside his 40 gal tank, to go along with his Exoterra Solar Globe 125W which sits directly on his screen now and a heat emitter. Basking spot probably hits 120 now and he won't sit there voluntarily. He finds the coldest spot he can find, which registers no lower than 85 during the day. I keep the emitter on all night. Breeder said the higher temps would help his immune system.
(Sorry, this is so long!) His color is better than it was. He seems slightly less lethargic but he still won't eat on his own. We are now force-feeding dubias, waxworms and large mealworms every other day as he clearly hates being force fed. A week ago, we added NutriBACaf sprinkled on the insects to try to boost his appetite. Still nothing. Every day we put greens, fruits, veggies in front of him. We try using tongs and bring food directly to his mouth. It's as if he has no idea what food is anymore. Breeder said that we needed to stop force feeding him or it would kill him, but he's already underweight. We've tried starving him for no more than 3 days in a row. That has also not helped. He is close to a year old, 14 inches and 225 grams.
Does anyone have any advice?!? I feel like we've tried everything...
So we took a trip back to the breeder (mostly because they had a replacement warranty on our vapor bulb, which died on us after 5 months). We told the breeder what had been happening. He's not a fan of vets and said this was all likely because we were not keeping him hot enough. He suggested trying to keep even the cold side around 85-90 F degrees. Also suggested removing his cave, as he said he's probably trying to die and hiding allows that to happen. We took out his cave, added an additional UVB Repti-Sun T8 directly inside his 40 gal tank, to go along with his Exoterra Solar Globe 125W which sits directly on his screen now and a heat emitter. Basking spot probably hits 120 now and he won't sit there voluntarily. He finds the coldest spot he can find, which registers no lower than 85 during the day. I keep the emitter on all night. Breeder said the higher temps would help his immune system.
(Sorry, this is so long!) His color is better than it was. He seems slightly less lethargic but he still won't eat on his own. We are now force-feeding dubias, waxworms and large mealworms every other day as he clearly hates being force fed. A week ago, we added NutriBACaf sprinkled on the insects to try to boost his appetite. Still nothing. Every day we put greens, fruits, veggies in front of him. We try using tongs and bring food directly to his mouth. It's as if he has no idea what food is anymore. Breeder said that we needed to stop force feeding him or it would kill him, but he's already underweight. We've tried starving him for no more than 3 days in a row. That has also not helped. He is close to a year old, 14 inches and 225 grams.
Does anyone have any advice?!? I feel like we've tried everything...